Actor Anson Mount, who plays lead character Cullen Bohannon in AMC's hit series "Hell on Wheels," is in the midst of what he calls "crunch week."

Mount, who grew up in White Bluff, Tenn., near Dickson, is filming the series in Canada, and with the fourth season launching Saturday, he's also busy doing press. When The Tennessean called him Thursday, he was in Canada driving to the airport so he could fly to New York to do interviews for a couple of days. But, he has to be back in Canada by Sunday because filming resumes Monday.

"We've got two more months of this," he explained. "It's a bit of a marathon, but I'm doing good. I'm really pleased with the work and with the results we're getting, which is the important part. It could be a lot worse. Look, I'm not digging ditches, although I have dug ditches."

Mount said season four should be the best yet for "Hell on Wheels" fans. The show is set in a lawless post-Civil War town and highlights the greed and corruption that came with the railroad. At the end of last season, his character was married and his new wife was pregnant. Mount said his character has matured over the past several seasons, but still has a ways to go.

"In terms of Cullen, I think they've drawn a really interesting arc this year," he said. "This season it becomes much less about himself and much more that it (the railroad) is a lot of things to a lot of people."

But Mount still isn't convinced that his character is going to be a great family man.

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"He's starting to mature in that way, but at the same time, he's making classic immature mistakes," he said. "It's great because (my character) is trying to do right by this young lady. But at the same time, it's kind of like saying, 'I'm a heroin addict and I'm going to have a family.' It's like, 'Whoa.' "

The fourth season of "Hell on Wheels" premieres at 8 p.m. Saturday on AMC.